Day 12, October 12 2007: Rishikesh – Devprayag – Karnprayag – Joshimath – Auli – Joshimath

Welcomed with horrible roads (yeah! Yet again) upto Srinagar (the Uttarakhand one) we were getting tired now. Crossing through Devprayag reminded us of our first trip together back in November last year. That was the trip when we had first met. The roads much better now, we cruised through till Karnaprayag. The 65 kms from Karnaprayag to Joshimath saw the worst of the water crossing we encountered on the entire trip, coupled with fresh landslides and rocky terrain as we neared Joshimath. The Eicher Road Atlas we had procured the day before showed the route like Joshimath – Auli – Malari. We were soon climbing the road to Auli which lay 14 kms on a hill top. Reached there to be welcomed by an Army training camp. Confusions galore as the Army fellows declined having information on the route to Malari thru Auli. Everyone said the the route exists but all the way down from Joshimath. Showed them the Atlas, which said the road exists, but reality was something else. A tough climb, confusions and a painful climb down from Auli made sure we wasted a good hour and a half. It was already 1800 now and light was fading. The roads weren’t any better. As we started moving in the correct direction for Malari, horrendous slush and water crossings were all over the place.

At 1830, 5 km down the road to Malari we aborted this as well. With no concrete info on the route, the road conditions and fall back plan, Malari wouldn't happen, not this time! Extremely frustating times and I wanted to kill the people behind the Eicher Road Atlas, which made us pick up the wrong trail and wasted valuable time. With no other choice, we returned to the town of Joshimath to crash for the night.

For some odd reason, we were mislead by the "devbhumi" tag attached to Uttaranchal, and were decieved into believing that nowhere beyond Rishikesh, would we find meat. As we ate veggie food at a restaurant and came out, the next restaurant, the very next one, less than 5 steps ahead had roasted chicken hanging on the rods from the cieling. As we glared at each other, and at the chicken, the restaurant owner and the tandoor operator smiiled at in the most sarcastic manner ever.

OMR, hog and snore was the order of the day, yet again!!

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